Download All About Aqueducts

All About Aqueducts
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/roman/manual.html
Covered Trench
Roughly four of every five miles of Rome's
aqueducts run underground, many in covered
trenches. Trenches are used when the aqueduct
follows the contours of the land. They are quick and
easy to build for they require neither the construction
of arches nor the burrowing of tunnels.
Romans built underground to hide and protect water
from enemies. Even after the Empire expanded,
creating a safe buffer around our aqueducts, they
built underground trenches and tunnels because
they protected from the stresses of wind and erosion
while underground.
Covered trenches and tunnels are also less
disruptive to life on the surface than are walls and
arcades, which divide neighborhoods and farmers'
fields.
Tunnel
Sometimes, aqueduct engineers should carve a
tunnel through a mountain rather than build a trench
around one. When not too deep, shafts are dug
down vertically from above to intersect with the
proposed path of the tunnel.
By using shafts, more than one crew can work on a
tunnel at a time. The shaft also serves another
purpose: Once the tunnel is finished, slaves can
crawl down stone steps to clean the tunnel. They
can fill buckets with silt or chipped-out calcium
deposits left behind from hard water and then haul
the buckets out.
Pressurized pipe (inverted siphon)
When faced with a deep valley, Roman engineers
should use pressurized pipes that are inverted
siphons. Roman water engineers build these rather
than arcades because tall arcades are too unstable
when built too tall.
With siphons, water travels down one side of the
valley in watertight pipes. Water pressure forces
water up the other side. Water exits the pipes at
nearly the same height as it entered. The pipes are
usually built of lead, which is costly, but the material
can handle strong water pressure.
Wall
When aqueduct engineers have to cross shallow
depressions in the landscape, they should build the
aqueduct on a wall. Simple to construct, walls are
easier to build than arcades, although walls can
impede the natural flow of water and people.
When engineers need to raise the aqueduct's
channel more than approximately five feet above the
ground, they should resort to arcades, which allow
people and water to move freely beneath them.
Arcade
In a valley, water engineers should use arcades
rather than aqueduct trenches. Arcades, of course,
are the bridges built with a series of arches, and one
of the grandest monuments of the Empire.
When the aqueduct must flow higher than about five
feet, Roman engineers should use an arcade rather
than a wall. The arched arcades require less
material than walls and don't interfere with the
passage of water or people through the
environment.
Roman Aqueducts
http://www.unrv.com/culture/roman-aqueducts.php
The great and highly advanced Roman waterway system known as the Aqueducts, are among the greatest
achievements in the ancient world. The running water, indoor plumbing and sewer system carrying away disease
from the population within the Empire wasn't surpassed in capability until very modern times. The Aqueducts, being
the most visible and glorious piece of the ancient water system, stand as a testament to Roman engineering. Some
of these ancient structures are still in use today in various capacities.
The aqueducts were built from a
combination of stone, brick and the
special volcanic cement pozzuolana. While
their visible remains leave a definite
impression, the great bulk of the Roman
waterway system ran below ground.
Channels bored through rock, or dug
below the surface carried water where it
was convenient and possible. Of the
approximately 260 miles in the aqueduct
system, only 30 miles consisted of the visible, mammoth arched structures. The aqueducts were built only
to carry the flow of water in areas where digging, burrowing, or surface grades presented problems, such
as valleys. The entire system relied upon various gradients and the use of gravity to maintain a continuous
flow; and the engineering at the time was remarkable. Without the aqueducts it would've been impossible
to maintain the flow of water at the proper grades required.
When water reached Rome it flowed into enormous cisterns (castella) maintained on the highest ground.
These large reservoirs held the water supply for the city and were connected to a vast network of lead
pipes. Everything from public fountains, baths and private villas could tap into the network, sometimes
provided a fee was paid. The water system was as politically motivated as any other massive public works
project. Providing additional sources of incoming flow, feeding the baths or simply providing water access
to more of the populace could grant great prestige.
Maintenance of the water system was a continuous task, and the Romans assigned a Curator Aquarum to
oversee this undertaking. Paid laborers, slaves and the legions all had parts in building parts of the water
system. The Curator Aquarum maintained the aqueducts of Rome, while similar curators oversaw those in
the provinces. The legions however, when building new colonies or forts, were responsible for providing
their own water supply. Just as they were the great road builders of the Empire, they most assuredly took
part in the aqueduct construction of outlying areas.
11 separate aqueducts supplied the city of Rome and were built over a span of 500 years. The first, the
Aqua Appia, was built in conjunction with the great southern road the Via Appia in 312 BC. Aqua Novus
stretched the farthest from the city, reaching approximately 59 miles away. At its largest extant, nearly
200 cities within the empire were supplied buy aqueducts, far surpassing the capability of any civilization
before or after for nearly another 2 millenia. The last Roman aqueduct built was the Aqua Alexandrina built
in 226 AD. In the waning days of the western empire, invading Germanic tribes cut the supply of water into
Rome and only the Aqua Virgo, which ran completely underground, continued to deliver water. During the
middle ages, a couple of the lines were restored, but full access to running water wasn't re-established
until the Renaissance. At the height of the ancient city's population of approximately 1,000,000
inhabitants, the water system was capable of delivering up to 1 cubic meter of water per person in the city,
more than what is commonly available in most cities today.
Roman Aqueducts
http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/mvigeant/univ270_05/jake_aq/aqueducts.htm
As Roman towns got bigger, in the course of the Roman Republic, it got too hard for the people who lived
in the towns to get drinking and washing water. Because raw sewage was draining into the rivers, people
who drank river water often got very sick or died. Local governments, first in the city of Rome and then
elsewhere in the growing Empire, decided to build long stone channels to carry clean water from nearby
hills to the towns.
These were called aqueducts , from the Latin word
for water (aqua) and the Latin word for channel
(ductus). By the time of the Empire, most Roman
towns had at least one aqueduct to bring in fresh
water, and big cities like Rome had ten or more.
These aqueducts were quite a challenge to build. The
engineering had to be just right in order to get the
water to run through the channels and get to the city
without stagnating in the channel or coming too fast
into the city. They had to keep the slope the same all the time, so sometimes the aqueducts had to run on
high arches, and other times along the ground in stone channels, or even under the ground in tunnels.
Roman engineers built aqueducts all over the Roman Empire, from Syria to England. All Roman towns
pretty much got clean drinking water from these aqueducts. But in villages, where most Roman people
lived, there were no aqueducts, and people often drank dirty water from the nearest river, and many
women and children spent hours every day carrying water from the river or the nearest well in clay pots.
The aqueducts continued to be used until the 400s AD, when the fall of the Roman Empire in Western
Europe meant that most towns became much smaller, and were able to get enough water from wells.
By the 400s AD in the Roman town of Ostia, the town had gotten so much smaller that they didn't need to
keep this street clear anymore, and they put their well right in the middle of the street!
Draw a design of your own aqueduct here: